The Bodyguard
by Catten90
Summary: Sakura Haruno is a kickboxing legend, as well as a part time nurse. However, her life is about to change as she is threatened because something her godmother Tsunade invented. Will she be able to solve this riddle with the help from her friends? And is there really only one threat? And what happens when a dark, sexy and highly capable bodyguard is thrown in the mix?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**The Bodyguard**

**Prologue**

Hi, my name is Sakura Haruno. I´m 24 years old and have light pink hair, emerald green eyes and if I may say so myself, a killer body. I´m a member in one of the top three kickboxing teams and we are on our way towards a new season where we hopefully gets up too first place.

My godmother and only parent since my biological parents died when I was seven, Tsunade, has taught me some medical knowledge and asks me to work at her hospital from time to time. She has recently invented a technique which allows the healer to use its own energy to heal a patient. The technique is much sought after by other companies but she and I is the only ones who know how to execute it properly.

I´m far from poor because of the heritage my parents left me and don´t really have the need to work to manage. But I love kickboxing and my team and wouldn´t trade it for anything, I also enjoy taking the occasional shift in Tsunade´s hospital.

My kickboxing team is made up of myself, Naruto, Tenten, Temari, Gaara, Neji and Rock Lee. Naruto is a childhood friend of mine and he has blonde hair, azure blue eyes and scars on his face that looks like whiskers. He works with a couple of my teammates in a gym as a personal trainer. He is 24 like me and is dating another friend of mine named Hinata.

Tenten is a year older than me, she is 25. She has brown hair that she usually wears up in two buns on her head and chocolate brown eyes. She has a thing for weapons and actually works at a gun range, she is also dating Neji.

Temari is 26, has sandy blond hair in four ponytails and beautiful teal eyes. She has two younger brothers and Gaara (the youngest) is also on the kickboxing team. She has been dating Shikamaru, another friend of mine for the past three years and she and her brothers own a small tattoo and piercing shop along with their cousin Sasori and his friend Deidara.

Gaara is 24 like me and has blood red hair and sea foam green eyes. He has a small tattoo on the side of his forehead in the shape of the kanji for love.

Neji is 25 and has long chestnut colored hair that he keeps in a low and loose ponytail. He has white-silvery eyes and is Hinata´s cousin; he works with Naruto at the gym as a martial arts trainer.

Rock Lee is also 25; he has shiny black hair in a bowl cut, bushy eyebrows and black eyes. He usually wears a green spandex one piece and he also works at the gym with Naruto and Neji.

Our kickboxing team trainer is Kakashi Hatake (silver hair, one charcoal eye, face mask) and Guy Maito (Black hair, black eyes, green spandex one piece).

The other people I hang out frequently with are Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Kankuro and Sasuke.

Hinata is 23, one year younger than me and is Neji´s cousin. She has long black-blue hair and white-lavender eyes. She works at Tsunade´s hospital as a nurse on the children´s ward.

Ino is 24, has long platinum blond hair in a high ponytail with a bang covering one of her sky blue eyes. She is dating Sasuke and also works at Tsunade´s hospital. She works in the emergency room as a nurse but also occasionally takes a shift or two in her parents flower shop.

Shikamaru is a 25 year old genius with brown hair in a spiky ponytail and warm brown eyes. He may be lazy but he is smart enough to work in the research department at Tsunade´s hospital despite his young age.

Chouji is also 25; he has wild brown hair and kind brown eyes. He and Shikamaru are best friends and he works at his parent's restaurant.

Kiba is 24, brown hair, black animal like eyes. He works with his older sister Hana at their parent's veterinary clinic.

Kankuro is 25 and is the middle one of the sand siblings. He has brown hair and brown eyes and usually wears purple face paint.

Sasuke is another one of my childhood friends. He has black hair styled like a chicken´s butt and black eyes. He has an older brother named Itachi and is working with the rest of his family in the police force. Ino and I had fought over him before I realized that he only was only like a brother to me just like Naruto was.

My godmother/parent Tsunade has blonde hair in two low ponytails and warm honey colored eyes. She has just started dating her childhood friend Jiraya who is an author.

Neither she nor I had realized just how after sought the energy healing technique would become, or she would probably never had taught it too me.

Like I said before, I am Sakura Haruno and this is my story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 1**

I was walking home from a night shift at the hospital; one of the nurses in the children´s ward had called in sick. It was a rather nice night to be out walking, not warm but still not too cool either. Midnight was only an hour away but I had declined Hinata´s offer to drive me home, it was after all only a twenty minute walk.

I sighed in relief when I unlocked the door to my apartment; all I wanted now was a hot shower and something to eat.

I absolutely loved my apartment; it had a large living room with wooden floors and cream colored walls. The living room held my movie corner, my sound system, a few book shelves and another corner turned into a small training area.

The kitchen was huge and all state of the art appliances and themed in black and dark blue. It had a lot of working space as well as a big table with chairs. My kitchen table was able to seat 12 people.

It also had two bedrooms but the smaller bedroom was converted into an office for me. The office had a tan carpet and dark red walls and held my desk and my computer station. It was also where I had my ironing board set up.

My bedroom had a light grey carpet as well as light green walls. The furniture was made of white wood and included my queen sized bed, a dresser, two bedside tables and I huge mirror. I also had a walk in closet and a white sofa that contained a pull-out bed; I had bought it because it was perfect for sleep overs.

The bathroom was medium sized but contained easily a sink, the toilet, the shower and a washer and dryer. The bathroom was mainly white but with black details. The small hallway which contained the doors to the bathroom, bedroom and office also included a couple of closets for storage.

I went straight to the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower so that it had time to heat up, then I stripped myself from my work-clothes and put them in the hamper. The room had now filled up with a nice steam and I entered the amazing haven called a hot shower.

When I was clean and relaxed I exited, smelling faintly of strawberries from my shampoo. I dried myself off and then wrapped myself in my cozy robe; it was black and fluffy and reached all the way down to the floor. I wrapped my hair in a towel before going to the kitchen to make something to eat.

I found some leftover vegetable soup which I reheated and ate along with a cheese sandwich. As I put the dishes in the dishwasher I heard something at the front door and went to examine it.

I looked through the peep hole but couldn´t see anything, so I opened the door and looked out in the hallway. I still saw nothing but when I turned my head I saw an envelope taped to my door. I took it down and returned inside my apartment, locking the door after me before I sat down in my dark grey couch to see what was in it.

It was a letter, written in a computer and then printed out. It said.

_Hello Sakura._

_As you know, your godmother Tsunade has invented a technique called 'energy healing'. You also know that she and you are the only people who know how to use it. We also both know that Tsunade will decline any offer given to her about selling the technique only because of her silly idea that she is going to teach it to everybody undergoing a nurse or doctor education, making it available for everybody._

_Perhaps you are more inclined to sell her discovery? If not then be aware that a letter much like this one has already reached your dear godmother, telling her to sell it or watch as you get hurt._

_If that does not get the wanted result, we might simply come after you ourselves and force you to teach us the technique with any means necessary._

_Until we meet again._

I put down the letter with shaking hands, how dare they threaten us to try and get the technique! I was at the time more furious then scared and when my phone suddenly rang I was not surprised. They had after all told me that they had sent a similar letter to Tsunade.

"Hello Tsunade." I answered, already aware of whom the caller was.

_"Did you also get a letter? How dare they threaten us!"_

"I know, are you okay though? What are we going to do?" I wasn´t overly worried but we probably should be on our guard at least. It might have been just an empty threat but it might also have been the real deal.

_"Yeah I´m fine, Jiraya is here. I´m more worried about you, all alone in the apartment… Other than being careful I don´t think that there is much we can do yet, they haven´t really done anything other than threaten us and we doesn´t even know who it is. But I will talk to Fugaku Uchiha tomorrow and see what he says at least."_

I grimaced at the thought of the Uchiha family knowing about our problems, Fugaku would surely tell his wife Mikoto who probably would tell her sons, Itachi and Sasuke. And then Sasuke would tell Naruto and they would be all over protective.

"I´ll be fine, the girls are coming over tomorrow and we are having a girl's day and then a sleep-over. Call me when you have talked to Fugaku, please?"

_"Okay then… Sure I´ll call you tomorrow sometime. Sweet dreams Sakura."_

"Night Tsunade." I replied and hung up on her. I then turned off the lights and escaped to my bedroom. I changed to my pajamas in the walk in closet and hung the robe over a chair until tomorrow. Then I crawled beneath my lovely black satin sheets and quickly succumbed to sleep.

The next morning I dressed casually in training clothes before eating a light breakfast of yoghurt and berries. I then proceeded to vacuum the entire apartment as well as dusting and cleaning the bathroom. I then loaded the washing machine and started it before going to my small training area for a workout. I had a cross trainer, a punching bag and some weights but it was enough for a good workout. The kickboxing season was starting soon and I had to be on the top of my game.

When I finished the workout I had only one hour left before the girls were arriving so I shifted the laundry from the washer to the dryer and then took a quick shower and dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a simple white top before taking care of the now dry clothes in the dryer.

When we had sleepovers at each other we had a few rules like that the owner of the place didn´t have to get any food for the event. So when the doorbell rang and Hinata, Ino, Tenten and Temari entered, all carrying a bag of food I wasn´t surprised.

We unloaded the food in the kitchen before sitting down in front of the TV to talk about what had happened since the last time we all got together.

"So, Ino, tell us what´s new in your life." Temari demanded and Ino actually blushed lightly which never happened no matter what we asked.

"Well I think that maybe… that maybe Sasuke is planning on buying an engagement ring to me. I found some catalogues the apartment and my ring size was scribbled in one of them in his handwriting." She admitted and then tried to answer the questions from all of us.

I found myself smiling happily for her, yes we were young but they had been living together since we graduated from high school. And I knew he really loved her. Ino then had enough of our questions and asked Tenten what was new with her.

"Not much new with me but I did get a tattoo last weekend!" She told us happily and let us see the beautiful red and green dragon that climbed on her back. I was suddenly jealous, I wanted a tattoo as well god dammit.

"Where did you do it?" I asked her.

"In my shop, Deidara did it." Temari answered for her and I said to Temari.

"Well I want a tattoo as well; could you get me an appointment?" She nodded.

"Sure, no problem what do you want?"

"I want a phoenix bird on my left shoulder blade who curls around the names of my biological parents." The answer came easily to me, I had wanted something on my body to remember my parents with and this felt right. When the moment had passed Tenten asked Temari if she had any news.

"Nope no news, but I got a great idea!" We all listened intently as she told us of her plan.

"How about we give the guys a little scare? I´ve got henna paint in my bag so I can give us all plenty of henna tattoos, they will disappear after a shower but until then they look just like real ones. We could do them this afternoon and then invite the guys for a movie night! Imagine the shock on their faces as they see us all covered in tattoos!"

I had to agree that it was a really good idea. We decided to do it but before anything else we had to finish the round with 'what´s new?', Hinata was the next one to be asked.

"Well… Naruto and I are thinking of getting an apartment together… One that is closer to the gym and the hospital." We all thought that was great to hear, they had waited so long to get each other and were moving slowly forward. Then the question was turned towards me.

"Hmm, I´ve started training for the kickboxing season; I´ve worked a couple of shifts at the hospital… Oh and I got this last night." I told them and allowed them to read the letter that had been taped to my door.

"Are you not afraid?" Hinata asked me timidly but I only shook my head no, I didn´t feel I had any reason to be afraid.

"Well, at least promise us that you´ll be careful?" Begged Ino and I promised her that. Then both Tenten´s and Temari´s stomach's decided to get themselves heard and we all laughed before going into the kitchen to prepare some food. We made some simple chicken and rice before planning the evening a little bit better.

We were going to make tacos for dinner and we had enough even if we invited some of the boys, we decided to invite Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, Gaara and Kankuro. Then we started painting on our tattoos.

We all got full body tattoos; mine was made up of only different tribal patterns. Just as Temari was finishing up on Hinata, my phone rang and I quickly answered it in case it was Tsunade.

"Hello?"

_"Hi Darling how are you? Has something else happened?"_

"Hi Tsunade! I´m fine, the girls are here and we´re planning on giving some of the boys a scare with henna tattoos. No nothing, did you talk to Fugaku?"

_"Oh my god I´d love to see the look on their faces! That´s good, yes I did talk to him. He said that he can´t do anything until he either knows who sent the letters or they actually do anything to us."_

It was the answer I was expecting but it was still frustrating to hear. I hung up and turned around to come face to face with Tenten. She looked like she had overheard the conversation I had just had with Tsunade.

"You heard that, didn´t you?" I asked her and she nodded before telling me.

"If something happens and you need a place to stay you can always come to me and Neji, no matter if it´s day or night." I could hear that she was completely serious and I gave her a smile.

"I know, I promise I´ll come to you if I need to." I told her and then the doorbell rang, signaling that the boys were here.

The boy´s reactions were absolutely hilarious and we laughed for probably ten minutes straight before being able to stop. They were shocked but thankfully also saw the funny in the situation when they realized that our tattoos were fake. We all helped making the tacos and then we sat down at my big kitchen table to enjoy the meal.

I was seated in between Sasuke and Naruto and when Sasuke leaned closer I realized that he knew that Tsunade had talked to the police chief.

"Something you wish to tell me?" He asked and I knew exactly what he was inquiring but I had no desire to tell him.

"I don´t think so… What would that be?" I replied in a bored tone.

"You know damn well what I´m talking about! Don´t play stupid Sakura, I know that you are way smarter than that." I sighed but gave in away and told him and the rest of the boys about the letter.

When I was done I quickly herded everybody inside my living room and pushed them down in my huge, dark grey corner sofa. I then started a movie before leaving them and returning to the kitchen. I felt the need to be left alone for a few moments.

While putting all the plates and utensils in the dishwasher I let my mind wander and it kept circling around the person who had sent me the letter despite my tries not to. Why was this happening? Was it really just because of the new technique or was it something else as well?

I shook the thoughts from my mind and joined the others in front of the TV instead. A few hours later the guys went home and the girls and I went to bed. Hinata and Ino shared my pull-out bed and Tenten and Temari slept in the bed with me. We always slept like this when we were at my place so it was nothing weird about it to us.

The next morning we woke up late and we enjoyed a lazy and luxurious breakfast before the girls left with promises of seeing each other soon again. I then took a shower before returning to my bedroom and changed the sheets both in the bed and in the pull-out before changing into my work clothes to work another night shift in the hospital. We had eaten our breakfast when it was time for lunch so I needed to get going.

It was a rough night to be working, I was doing a shift in the emergency room and we were flooded with accidents and sicknesses. We lost a three year old who had been run over by a car…

When I could return to my apartment several hours later I was both tired and sad. I unlocked the door and entered the dark apartment. I flicked on the lights and then froze were I was standing. On my TV-table, another envelope was waiting for me.

I opened it with shaking hands to read what it said.

_Hello again dear Sakura!_

_I see that neither you nor your godmother took my previous threats seriously. Maybe this will change your minds._

_Until we meet again._

That's when I saw the photos.

There were photos of me walking from the hospital, on my way to kickboxing training, outside of my apartment building, in my bed sleeping…

I dropped the photos, suddenly scared out of my mind; they had been in my apartment without me realizing it. I quickly changed into some other clothes and threw some necessities in a backpack before pocketing both of the letters and leaving the apartment again.

This time I was scared for real.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**AN: If i don´t get any reviews after the next chapter i will probably stop this story, so if you guys like and want me to continue i have to get a little feedback.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Thankfully Tenten and Neji lived close by and only ten minutes later was I knocking frantically on their door. It was Saturday and once again close to midnight and I hoped that they were home and not out in some bar.

I didn´t have to worry for long because Tenten soon opened the door dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a green tank top, it looked like she and Neji were having a movie night. She took one look at me and realized that something was wrong.

"What´s wrong Sakura? What happened?" She asked me while ushering me inside and pushing me down to sit on a chair in the kitchen. I was shaking all over and was having trouble telling her.

Finally I got out the newest letter from my pocket and I gave it to her while telling her.

"I found… this when I… got home from work."

She quickly looked at the short letter and then she looked at the pictures, her eyes getting wide as she realized what they were. She then called for Neji who entered the kitchen with a surprised look and still wet hair. He must have been in the shower when I arrived. She handed him the letter and the photos and he quickly scanned them before saying.

"This is really bad Sakura, whoever this person is they clearly are serious about it." Neji said before placing a calming hand on my shoulder.

"You will stay here tonight and tomorrow I will go with you to talk to Tsunade and Fugaku." He said and I smiled, I had really great friends.

* * *

The next morning my eyes had dark circles beneath them because of lack of sleep, I was also terribly jittery and jumped at the slightest noise. Tenten had left for work and Neji had called Naruto, telling him what had happened and that he would come by later.

He had also called both Tsunade and Fugaku and they were going to meet us at a café nearby. I was standing in the kitchen waiting for my courage to return, I absolutely detested feeling so scared.

Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder from behind and before I could stop myself I grabbed the wrist and threw the person over my shoulder to land on the floor in front of me. When Neji´s surprised eyes met mine I suddenly realized what I had done and I was absolutely horrified.

I had never, ever turned on one of my friends like that.

I felt a tear slid down my cheek and I got the urge to run and hide from him. We had been friends for years and I had treated him like he was about to hurt me! But before I had taken more than one step away he was up again and holding me by the arms.

"Don´t you dare run away from me Sakura!" He said rather harshly but not angry. I met his gaze, expecting to see anger but could only see worry, his pearly white eyes surprisingly expressive. I was still frozen in the spot by the grip of his hands and suddenly he wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

"It´s okay Sakura, I´m not mad at you, I shouldn´t have surprised you when I knew you was so tense." He said and I finally relaxed against him, he once again proved that he was one of my best friends and I felt safe with him. Even if I was fully capable of kicking his ass in a fight.

When we arrived at the café, Tsunade, Jiraya and Fugaku were already there. We order some coffee and then sat down at their table; Tsunade´s eyes were dark with worry and followed my movements closely.

I let Neji do the talking and only said something when asked a direct question; he gave Fugaku both of my letters and a foreboding silence descended upon us.

"This is bad." Was Fugaku´s simple response. And I felt my heart sink; I had kind of hoped that would say that I was overreacting and that it was nothing. Guess I wasn´t just that lucky…

"What should we do then?" Tsunade asked him, a serious expression on her face. He thought for a few seconds before answering.

"At this point I would recommend that both of you gets a bodyguard." I felt my jaw go slack; he really thought we needed bodyguards?

"Will you appoint some or can we get them ourselves?" Jiraya then asked with a thoughtful expression.

"I will appoint someone if you do not wish to find someone yourself." Fugaku answered and Jiraya told him that he would fix that himself. Apparently he knew some guys… Fugaku stood up to leave but gave us a last word of advice.

"Until your bodyguards show up I don´t recommend that either of you spend any time alone." He then turned and left, leaving a tense silence in his wake. I could see that Tsunade wanted nothing more than to whisk me away and lock me up so that I would be safe. But that wasn´t what I wanted, I wanted to live my life as usual and finally my courage came back to me.

"Don´t even think about it. I will stay with my friends until Jiraya gets me a bodyguard and then I will return to my apartment." I told her and I felt Neji rest a relieved gaze on me, he too was happy that I had found myself again. I had after all never let something scare me to the border when I could no longer function.

But I wasn´t going to be stupid either, I was going to live my life as usual but I was going to be careful as well.

It took some time to convince her about that though and when we could finally leave, it was almost noon. We headed back to my apartment next so that I could get some more clothes but when I was about to unlock my door, I froze. What if he was in there now? What if he was watching me?

Neji tried to unlock the door for me but I told him that I refused to be scared away from my home and that I needed to do this for myself. He nodded but stayed close enough so that I could feel that he was there.

It took me some time but I managed to get inside and then the fear faded. I quickly packed a bag with things I would need and we left again, this time headed for the gym where Naruto and Rock Lee was. When we pulled up in Neji´s black Nissan skyline both of them were outside, waiting for us.

As soon as I got out of the car I was pulled in a crushing hug by Naruto which Rock Lee soon joined in on. Neji had to physically remove them from me when I was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen.

When they were assured that I was alright they finally let us inside and I borrowed some clothes of Naruto to train in. Dressed in a pair of his dark red basketball shorts that only stayed on my hips with the help of the string and one of his black wife beaters that reached below my butt, I myself thought that I looked damn hot! I sat down to wrap my wrists and hands in the supporting bandages like I always did before training or a match when a shadow came to stand before me.

I looked up and met Naruto´s worried gaze.

"Will you really be okay?" He asked me, serious for once. I smiled a small smile at him and said.

"Yeah I´ll be okay… Want to spar?"

He nodded eagerly and started wrapping his hands as well, when he was done we made our way to the mats and quickly gathered a small audience as we punched and kicked each other hard enough to bruise.

In the end I stood as the winner, it wasn´t for nothing I had a 98 % win rate in my matches. We ordered some pizza for lunch and when Naruto and I locked the place up for the night it was already dinnertime.

Naruto took me back to his place, a small one-bedroom apartment above a hardware store. We talked for a bit, I helped him pack a few moving boxes and then he made me dinner. Sure it was only ramen but it was food and I wasn´t picky.

He made up the couch for me and actually tucked me in before going to bed himself. I fell asleep after only a few minutes but kept waking up in panic all through the night, so when morning came I was still tired.

I was sitting up with my head resting in my hands when Naruto woke and saw my tired face.

"Hey Sakura are you sure you want to go down to the gym today? You look rather tired…" He asked me. I sighed and told him.

"The kickboxing season starts in only a few weeks, I have to train despite being tired. Besides, Hinata works the early shift today so I have nowhere to go until she gets off at two anyway…"

Naruto didn´t say anything more about it but I could feel his worried gaze on me all day and when Hinata arrived to pick me up he spoke to her in a voice low enough so that I couldn´t hear him. But I was almost certain that he told her about me not being able to sleep.

But Hinata didn´t treat me any different on the way over to her apartment and now I was confused. It wasn´t that I wanted her to treat me differently but because she didn´t I wanted to know why. I asked her about that as we started to work on making some lunch in the kitchen.

"I thought that it was driving you crazy by now. Naruto told me to be careful with you because you have trouble sleeping but frankly, there´s nothing I can do about that other than try and make you relax. So that´s why we´re having a home spa night!" She told me happily and I couldn´t help but smile, Hinata really knew me well to know what I needed even though I didn´t realize it myself.

"That sounds great Hina!" I agreed and was then truly enjoying the meal.

After the dishes were taken care of, we made our own face masks and then watched the movie 'dirty dancing'. We ate snacks made of cucumber and carrot sticks that we dipped in dip and then we gave each other manicures. To finish the evening we watched the movie 'grease' as we ate chocolate ice cream directly from the tub.

The whole night, forest scented candles had been burning and now the small apartment smelled lovely. She tucked me in just like Naruto had and I immediately fell asleep, exhausted.

But I didn´t get much sleep this night either.

* * *

So when Hinata took me to Tsunade´s house the following afternoon to meet my bodyguard I was dead on my feet and now had pronounced black shadows beneath my bloodshot eyes.

It made me feel slightly better that Tsunade looked even worse than I did.

She and Jiraya met me in the driveway as I waved Hinata goodbye and then accompanied me inside. It would be a lie to say that I wasn´t nervous about meeting my bodyguard, whoever had managed to match Jiraya´s high expectations would after all live with me for god knows how long.

Jiraya seated me and Tsunade in her living room before he called in the two persons who would be Tsunade´s bodyguards.

The first one who entered had wild and spiky black hair, lazy black eyes and a strange marking on his chin. He also wore a strip of bandage across the bridge of his nose for some reason. He was introduced as Kotetsu Hagane. The second one who entered was slightly taller and had brown hair that covered his right eye. His eyes were dark and serious and he was named Izumo Kamizuki.

Apparently the two of them was best friends and only worked with each other, it felt good knowing these two would protect Tsunade for me.

Then Jiraya called out the one who would be my bodyguard and I felt suddenly nervous.

The man that entered was slightly taller than the other two; his hair was a medium brown and almost reached his shoulders. His eyes were a kind brown and held a mischievous glint in them. He had a senbon needle in his mouth and wore a bandanna to keep his hair away from his eyes.

He sent a crooked smile my way and I felt my thoughts go haywire. He was the one who was going to live with me!? He was freakin´ gorgeous! I struggled to keep from blushing and came to just as Jiraya was introducing us.

"Sakura this is Genma Shiranui, Genma this is Sakura Haruno."

"Nice to meet you Pinky." He greeted with a mock salute. I struggled to keep my anger in check; I absolutely detested being called 'Pinky'! I growled lightly at him and responded.

"Nice to meet you to." Tsunade giggled and gave Genma a warning.

"I wouldn´t call her Pinky if I were you, she is a member of the leaf kickboxing team and I wouldn´t be surprised if you got your ass kicked."

He locked shocked at hearing that and turned and said accusingly to Jiraya.

"And you said she worked as a nurse!" But you could hear that he was more amused than upset.

"She does work at the hospital from time to time, but she is a professional kick boxer first." He responded with a smile. He must´ve not told him that detail on purpose just so that he could see his reaction I thought to myself as both Tsunade and I laughed.

"I´m sure you two will get to know each other though." Jiraya finished as we managed to stop laughing, then he simply shoved us out the door and shut it behind us. We were suddenly cast in a tense silence before this Genma guy scratched his neck and said.

"Well we should probably get back to your place so I can get a feeling for it before it gets dark." I only nodded and obediently followed him to a cluster of vehicles, expecting him to unlock a car. When he made his way toward a motorcycle I stopped and only stared.

It was a black and blood red Honda "fireblade", a machine built for speed. And I was going to get a ride on it. I was overjoyed but still frozen in place, now with Genma´s amused gaze resting on me.

"Oi! What´s the matter Pinky? Scared of riding a bike?" I only blinked at him dumbfounded.

"Scared? Are you stupid or something? I have dreamed of riding a bike like this for years!" I answered excited and eagerly accepted the black helmet he handed me, right now I was soo thankful that I had packed my things in a backpack.

He only smiled in return and kicked the engine awake, making the hairs on my neck stand up. I straddled the bike behind him and clasped my arms tightly around his waist. He looked back at me and told me.

"Hold on tightly Pinky." Before he pulled on his own helmet and revved the engine. I tightened my hold on him as he had asked me and then we were away. He took it slow on the gravel of the driveway but as soon as we entered the street he gave more gas and the bike easily stood on its rear tire.

I loved every second of it. It was exhilarating, thrilling and scary in just the right way to make me high on adrenaline. When he parked the bike outside of my apartment building I was almost thrumming with excitement and I had a huge grin on my face that almost hurt my facial muscles.

We got off the bike and I looked up towards my windows, expecting to see only darkness since I had turned off the lights when I left with Neji a few days ago. The smile fell from my face and was replaced with a look of barely hidden fear, the lights were on.

"Hey what´s wrong Pinky? You´re looking a little pale…" Genma asked me while scanning our surroundings. He talked to me casually but his posture told me that he was tense and prepared for anything.

"The lights are on in my apartment but when I left a few days ago I turned them off." My voice was barely above a whisper but he heard me. He looked up towards my windows, a frown visible on his forehead and he shifted the senbon in his mouth before inside my building with me close behind.

When we reached my door it was still both closed and locked so I gave him my key and he unlocked the door. He kept me behind him and he quickly searched the apartment for a sign of any intruders, he found none but there was another envelope waiting for me on the kitchen table.

I opened it and expected to find a letter inside but there was none; the envelope was once again filled with photos. These ones were of the meeting in the café, me on the way home with Naruto, me and Naruto training inside the gym, Hinata picking me up…

I let out one choked sob before collecting myself and pushing away the fear once again. I handed the envelope to Genma and told him that I was going to take a shower and that he could make himself comfortable.

I didn´t let out my pent up tears until I was underneath the protective rain of the showers hot water.

When my tears dried I quickly cleaned myself and exited the shower. I dried myself and put on some clean clothes, a pair of black yoga pants and a simple pink tank top in the same shade as my hair.

I exited the bathroom and went in search of Genma, I found him in the living room checking my windows. I left him alone and instead ventured into the kitchen, putting on some tea water and throwing away food that had gotten bad during my absence.

When a hand lightly touched my shoulder I realized somewhere in the back of my mind that it was only Genma but my defense reaction was already in play. I spun around, aiming a roundhouse kick towards his ribs which he barely managed to block. He had a look of complete and utter shock on his face.

He was still holding my leg but I stood steadily with one leg on the ground and the other one almost at the same height as my own shoulder. Realization of what I had almost done slowly seeped inside my mind and once again I wanted nothing more than to hide.

"You really are a professional kick boxer aren´t you?" He asked me as he finally let go of my leg.

"Yes I am." I answered him with my eyes trained on the floor, I felt ashamed that I had so little control over myself. I even expected him to say that because I was a kick boxer I clearly didn´t need his help and leave me. And I really didn´t want to be alone…

"Hey what´s wrong now Pinky? I think it's awesome that you can protect yourself you know." He told me and took a step closer so that I was trapped between him and the kitchen counter.

"Yeah but since I can protect myself I don't need your help, right?" I asked him with my eyes still turned away.

"It doesn´t work like that Pinky, you wanna get rid of me or something? Just because you can protect yourself in a hand to hand fight doesn´t mean that you don´t need my help as well." I faced him and asked.

"So you´re not going to leave me?" I detested the weakness that was showing in my voice but I could do nothing to hide it. His eyes widened a bit, like he couldn´t believe that was what I thought, before they softened.

"Of course I´m not going to leave you, besides that kick couldn´t have done more than push the air from my lungs, right?" I felt my body relax, he wasn´t going to abandon me. Then an evil smile entered my lips and I told him confidently.

"Oh had that kick connected it would have broken a few ribs…" Then I turned my back on him to start making dinner, I was starving.

A few hours later I was starting to feel tired, the dishes were in the dishwasher and I had loaded the washing machine to start it the next morning. Genma was adding some extra locks to my front door when I approached him and told him I was going to bed and asked him where he wanted to sleep.

He put away his tools and stood up before telling me.

"You might not like this but I need to be in the same room as you, otherwise I can´t guarantee your safety." I only shrugged and waited for him to finish locking up the apartment before I gestured him to follow me.

I went into my bedroom and pulled out the pull-out bed in the sofa, before turning around and telling him that he could sleep there. Then I went into my walk in closet and changed into a pair of black hot pants-styled pajama bottoms and a t-shirt that was too big on me. The shirt was black and had bold, hot pink letters across the chest, spelling '**I feel Violated, **_do it again!_ '.

I was just getting into bed when he entered the room; it looked like he had changed in the bathroom. He was only wearing a pair of dark green pajama bottoms that hung low on his hips. I couldn´t tear my eyes off his beautifully sculpted body though.

My eyes roamed freely over rock hard abs and chiseled pectorals, I heard him chuckle but at the moment I didn´t care, I was enjoying my eye candy.

"Take a picture Pinky, it will last longer." I only huffed at him and slid underneath my sheets. I could hear him mimic my actions and then lights were turned off.

"Sweet dreams Pinky"

"Oh shut it."

* * *

I was not surprised when I woke up some time later in panic, what surprised me was that Genma was sitting on the edge of my bed, a worried expression on his face.

"You okay Pinky?"

Something snapped in me at hearing his concerned voice and tears started falling from my eyes, startling Genma into action. He hugged me against his chest and tried to calm me.

"It´s okay Pinky, everything will be alright."

"My name is not Pinky, my name is Sakura! And I know things will be alright, eventually. But I can´t help but being scared even if I don´t want to. Being scared is being weak and I am not weak!"

"Being scared does not mean being weak as long as you don´t let it control you. Do you trust me Sakura?" The tears stopped again and I even gave a small smile when he used my real name.

"Yes."

"Then believe me when I say that it is okay to be afraid."

I nodded and let my body relax against his, I felt sleepy again but I didn´t want to spend the entire night waking up in panic again.

"When was the last time you had a full night of sleep?" Genma asked me.

"A few days ago, why?" But I didn´t get an answer. Instead he lied down and pulled me with him, so that he lied next to me.

"Now sleep."

I wanted to protest, telling him that I could sleep on my own, but when the heat from his body reached me I gave in. I curled up against his side and let sleep overtake me.

I felt safe and protected and I loved it.


End file.
